Marked From Birth

"Oh, you worthless, pathetic girl!" The words struck Audrey before the physical blow did. Samantha's hand shoved Audrey's shoulder with the force of a girl who knew she had a wolf's strength brewing in her veins. Audrey stumbled, her knees hitting the cold, polished tile of the main hallway with a sickening thud. Audrey winced, her skin stinging, but she didn't look up immediately. She knew what she would see: Samantha standing tall in a designer silk dress, her glossy dark hair shimmering under the chandelier-a perfect image of a princess, if not for the ugly sneer twisting her lips.

"Samantha..." Audrey's voice was a fragile whisper, trembling with twenty-one years of accumulated hurt. "What have I ever done to make you hate me this much?" Samantha scoffed, a sharp, metallic sound that echoed off the high ceilings. She leaned down, her expensive perfume-scented like lilies and cold rain-cloying in Audrey's lungs. "Just your existence is enough," she hissed. "You're a stain on this pack. A good-for-nothing human breathing our air." With a triumphant click of her heels, Samantha turned and walked away, leaving Audrey alone on the floor. Audrey slowly picked herself up, brushing the dust from her simple, faded cotton dress. It was a stark contrast to the opulence of the Moon Shadow Manor. As the firstborn daughter of Alpha Terren, she should have been draped in jewels. Instead, she was the shadow in the corner, the ghost behind the throne. She hurried toward her room, keeping her head down. She didn't want to run into her father. In this house, Alpha Terren was not a protector; he was a storm. Once inside her room-a cramped, bare space tucked into the far corner of the servants' wing-she leaned against the door and let the first tear fall. Her room held nothing but a narrow bed and a single, cracked mirror. It was the only place she felt safe, though "safe" was a generous word for a prison. Audrey's life had been a series of tragedies starting the very second she was born. Her mother, the beautiful Luna Elena, had bled out while holding Audrey for the first and last time. Her father hadn't seen a miracle in his daughter's eyes; he had only seen the reason his world had ended. Grief had festered into a cold, hard hatred that turned his heart to stone. Then came Luna Selene. Selene was a woman of sharp angles and even sharper ambitions. She had married Terren and birthed Samantha, but she lived in the constant shadow of a dead woman. No matter how much she tried to rule the pack, she knew Terren still kept Elena's memory locked in a secret part of his soul. Selene took that insecurity out on Audrey, and she had raised Samantha to do the same. They had tried to "get rid" of Audrey several times-"accidents" in the woods, "forgotten" meals-but somehow, she always survived. It was as if a guardian angel was holding her hand through the dark. The true rejection, however, had come on her eighteenth birthday. In the Moon Shadow Pack, eighteen was the year of the Awakening. It was the night a wolf was supposed to howl for the first time, and unique powers were revealed. Audrey had spent that night sitting on her floor, staring at the moon, waiting for the shift, the heat, the power. It never came. Morning had found her still human. Still weak. Her father's disappointment had turned into a permanent disgust. He stopped calling her by her name. He called her worthless. Then, two years later, Samantha turned eighteen. The house had vibrated with energy that night. Samantha's wolf had awakened with a burst of elemental power, a shimmering blue aura that marked her as special. The pack had roared in celebration. There had been a grand dinner with roasted meats, vintage wines, and music that shook the walls. Audrey hadn't been invited. She had been ordered to stay in her room so she wouldn't "embarrass the bloodline" with her human presence. She had spent that night with a pillow over her ears, weeping until her eyes were so swollen she couldn't see. Now, at twenty-one, she was a servant in her own home. She washed the dishes Samantha soiled, laundered the clothes Selene wore, and cooked meals she wasn't allowed to eat at the table. She was a ghost amongst the living, a girl whose only crime was surviving when her mother didn't. But as the clock ticked toward the midnight hour of her twenty-first birthday, the air in her small room began to change. The shadows seemed to stir. A strange, humming heat began to radiate from her marrow-a heat far more intense than anything she had felt before. The prophecy made twenty-one years ago was about to wake up.

Twenty-one years ago, the heavens had torn themselves apart. While the Moon Shadow Pack was mourning the death of their Luna, the Silver Pack-the most ancient and formidable lineage of wolves-was trembling for a different reason. In the high, jagged peaks of the Northern Mountains, the Silver Citadel had been battered by a storm that felt like the end of the world. Lightning had split the sky, illuminating the obsidian walls of the Alpha's fortress. Inside, the screams of the Luna were drowned out by the thunder, until finally, a new sound pierced the night: the sharp, clear cry of a newborn.

"It's a boy!" the mid-wives had shouted, their voices echoing through the halls. "An heir! A King!" The warriors outside had howled, their voices joining the wind in a symphony of celebration. But inside the birthing chamber, the joy died an abrupt death. As the Alpha King held his son for the first time, he realized the infant's eyes weren't the deep, predatory brown of his lineage. They were a milky, clouded silver. The Prince was born into a world he could not see. The silence that followed was broken by the rhythmic thump-thump-thump of a wooden staff against the stone floor. An old woman, her skin as wrinkled as a dried riverbed and her hair as white as a mountain peak, shuffled into the room. She was the High Priestess, a woman who had seen a thousand years of history through eyes that were as blind as the newborn Prince's. "Do not weep for the boy," she whispered, her voice like the rustle of dry leaves. "He is not broken. He is chosen. This child will be the greatest Alpha the Silver Pack has ever known. He will push us to greatness that will make the stars tremble." "But he cannot see his enemies," the King groaned, his heart heavy. "The solution is written in the moon," the Priestess countered, her sightless gaze fixed on the baby. "On his twenty-first year, he must take a bride. Not just any woman, but the Marked Princess of the Moon Shadow Pack. When the bond is sealed and the Alpha claims his mate, the darkness will lift. The sight of the King will be restored, and the true power of the Silver Pack will awaken." She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a chilling warning. "But heed this: the bond is sacred. If he dares to bite a woman who is not the Marked One, the false bride will perish instantly. Her blood will boil, and her heart will shatter. Only the True Princess can survive the Silver King." As the years passed, Lucas grew into a man who defied his disability. He was a masterpiece of masculine strength-tall, broad-shouldered, with a jawline that looked as if it had been carved from the very mountain stone. His black hair fell over a brow that was perpetually furrowed in concentration, and though his eyes remained silver and clouded, he moved with the grace of a stalking panther. He was every woman's dream and every enemy's nightmare. But he remained untouched. He was waiting for his twenty-one years to be complete. A few days before the deadline, a royal envoy from the Silver Pack arrived at the Moon Shadow Manor. They came to claim the "Marked Princess." Alpha Terren had stood before them, his chest puffed out with pride. Without a second thought, he presented Samantha. In his mind, it couldn't be Audrey. Audrey was a "nothing." She was a human mistake. Samantha was the one with the aura, the beauty, and the wolf. To him, the choice was obvious. But Samantha was far from pleased. "I won't do it!" she hissed, pacing her bedroom later that evening. She looked at her mother, Luna Selene, with eyes full of fire. "He's an Alpha, fine. He's rich, fine. But he's blind, Mother! I am a goddess. I deserve a man who can actually see me when I walk into a room. I won't spend my life leading a cripple around by the hand." Selene watched her daughter, a slow, predatory smile spreading across her face. She stood up and pulled Samantha into the shadows of the store room, checking the hallway for any eavesdropping servants. "Calm your nerves, my precious girl," Selene whispered, her eyes glinting with a dark, wicked light. "I have a plan. A plan that will give you everything you want and rid us of that... stain... once and for all." Samantha frowned. "What do you mean?" "We will switch them," Selene murmured, rubbing her hands together in a gesture of pure malice. "We will dress Audrey in your bridal silks. We will veil her so the Silver Pack cannot see her face. She will marry the blind Alpha in your place." Samantha's eyes widened. "But the prophecy... the Priestess said a false bride would die." "Exactly," Selene giggled, a sound that made the air feel cold. "The moment Lucas bites her to seal the bond, Audrey will drop dead. The Silver Pack will be in a panic, the 'human' mistake will finally be buried, and then... then you can step in as the 'rightful' bride to 'comfort' the grieving Alpha. You get the crown, and Audrey gets a grave. It's perfect." Samantha began to laugh, a high, sharp sound that joined her mother's. They tilted their heads together, two vipers plotting in the dark. "Yes," Samantha whispered, her eyes lit with a cruel joy. "This is perfect. Let her have her wedding night. It will be the last thing she ever does."

On the morning of the wedding, the air in the house was thick with a cruel conspiracy. The plan was simple yet treacherous: Audrey would stand at the altar in Samantha's place. However, the deception required Audrey's body to move, and for that, they needed her submission. They dragged her into the dressing room, the door clicking shut like a trap. When they revealed the plan, Audrey recoiled, shaking her head in a desperate "no." But as she turned to flee, her stepsister's hand snared her arm, followed by the sharp sting of a slap.

Audrey gasped, her lungs burning as she fought back a flood of tears. "Do this, and you are finally free of us," they hissed, punctuating the promise with a deadly threat. Audrey looked at their cold eyes. She didn't know that marrying the Alpha was a death sentence for any girl who wasn't the "Marked Princess"-how could she, when she had been kept in the shadows like an outcast? She only saw an escape. She saw a chance to leave behind a father who didn't love her and a family that loathed her. Maybe, she thought, the Alpha would love her. Maybe his bite would finally wake the wolf inside her. She nodded. Dressed in beaded peach silk with a white mask concealing her face, Audrey became a perfect mirror of Samantha. As she descended the stairs, her brown eyes shimmering and her dark hair glossy, not a single guest suspected the switch. When she reached the altar, the blind Alpha reached out. The moment his skin touched hers, a jolt of warmth and a powerful bond surged through him. He smiled, sensing a soul he didn't realize wasn't the one promised to him. They exchanged rings and left the celebration behind, heading toward a wedding night that would change everything. The world outside the Silver Manor was screaming. Thunder shook the very foundation of the stone walls, and the wind howled like a pack of mourning spirits. But inside the master suite, the air was thick with a silence so heavy it felt like a physical weight. Audrey lay on the silk sheets, her heart hammering a frantic rhythm against her ribs. When Lucas's teeth had first grazed the sensitive skin of her neck, she had braced for the cold sting of death. She had expected to feel her life force drain away, just as Samantha and Selene had secretly hoped. Instead, the moment his fangs pierced her skin, a golden fire erupted in her veins. It wasn't the heat of a fever; it was the heat of a sun being born. The "nothingness" she had felt for twenty-one years-that hollow ache where a wolf should have been-was suddenly filled with a roar so loud it drowned out the thunder outside. "Ah!" Lucas gasped, pulling back. He clutched his head, his body racking with a violent tremor. His clouded silver eyes began to burn. The grey film that had stood between him and the world for two decades began to dissolve like mist under a mid-day sun. Audrey couldn't speak. Her body was changing. Her bones weren't breaking; they were expanding, vibrating with a frequency that made the glass lamps in the room shatter. A brilliant, ethereal light began to pour from her skin-not the dull blue of Samantha's power, but a blinding, regal gold. I am here, a voice whispered in her mind. It wasn't the voice of a servant or a shadow. It was the voice of a Queen. We are one. Lucas fell to his knees beside the bed, his hands covering his face as the first rays of light hit his optic nerves. The world was coming into focus-the rich mahogany of the furniture, the deep red of the carpets, and finally, the woman lying before him. He lowered his hands, his breath hitching in his throat. He didn't see Samantha, the "perfect" princess he had been promised. He saw a girl with eyes like molten amber, her black hair fanned out across the pillows like a dark halo. But more than that, he saw the mark on her shoulder-the one the bite had revealed. It wasn't a standard pack mark. It was a silver crescent moon entwined with a golden sun. "You..." Lucas whispered, his voice raw with wonder. "You aren't the one they described." Audrey sat up, her movements fluid and powerful. The weakness that had defined her life was gone. She felt the strength of ten men in her limbs. She looked at Lucas, really looked at him, and for the first time in her life, she didn't feel the need to look away. "My name is Audrey," she said, her voice steady and resonant. Lucas reached out, his fingers trembling as he touched her cheek. His sight was perfect-sharper than any wolf in his pack. "They lied to me. They told me the princess was Samantha. They told me she was the only one with the bloodline." He let out a dark, low chuckle. "But the bond doesn't lie. The prophecy didn't say the 'favored' daughter. It said the Marked one." Suddenly, Audrey stiffened. Her new, heightened senses picked up a sound from miles away-the sound of laughter back at the Moon Shadow Pack. She could hear her father's voice, boasting about the "sacrifice" he had made to secure an alliance. She could hear Samantha's cruel giggle as she imagined Audrey's lifeless body. A low, guttural growl vibrated in Audrey's chest. It was a sound of pure, predatory power. "They tried to kill me, Lucas," Audrey said, her eyes glowing brighter. "They sent me here expecting your bite to be my execution." Lucas's expression shifted instantly. The wonder in his eyes turned into a terrifying, icy rage. The Alpha of the Silver Pack stood up, his massive frame casting a shadow over the room. The power he had just regained flared around him like a storm. "They sent a goddess to my bed and expected me to be her end?" Lucas growled, his hand finding hers and gripping it with a fierce protectiveness. "They have no idea what they've done. They didn't just give me my sight, Audrey. They gave me a reason to burn their world down." Outside, the rain stopped as abruptly as it had started. The clouds parted to reveal a moon that was no longer white, but a shimmering, brilliant silver-the mark of the True Luna's awakening.